The All Progressives Congress (APC) have defended claims by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the newly appointed Director General of the State Security Services, SSS, Lawal Daura is a member of the ruling party, saying that even though he served on the security team of President Muhammadu Buhari’s election campaign team, he was not a member of the party.Speakingin Lagos on Friday, July 31, 2015, the National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed said that the PDP was accusing it of a crime it was also guilty of.
Mohammed said: ”While it amounts to rabble-rousing and crass politicking for the PDP to have wrongly accused Mr. Daura of being a member of the APC without a scintilla of credible evidence, the PDP has weakened its argument by using the pictures in which Mr. Daura appeared with the President and the fact that he served in an election committee as evidence of his membership of the APC.
”Possession of an APC membership card by Mr. Daura or evidence of registration as a party member at his ward, local government or state will be the only conclusive evidence of his membership of the party.
”Until such an evidence is produced, we are sorry we have to tell the PDP to shut up!
”PDP has forgotten the saying that he who must come to equity must come with clean hands. When Mr. Mike Okiro chaired the security committee of the PDP campaign in 2011, did that prevent him from being appointed the Chair of the Police Service Commission, which is responsible for issues concerning the welfare, promotion and discipline of all police personnel, in 2013?
”When the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, was appointed into the Jonathan election committee in 2015, did he resign his appointment as head of the agency or did he automatically become a card-carrying member of the PDP?
”Did retired Col. Kayode Are not become the DG of the DSS despite being a close confidante of Gen. Obasanjo during his electioneering campaign to become President? Was this not under a PDP Federal Government?
”In any case, even in the world’s most advance democracy, United States, was a card-carrying Democrat, Mr. Leon Panetta, not named as head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by President Barack Obama in 2009? Here in Nigeria, the APC-led FG has not even gone that far, and the PDP is blabbing.
”It is an irony that the APC-led Federal Government, which has continued to conduct the affairs of state with a strict adherence to the law, is the one being accused by the immoral, irresponsible and grossly hypocritical PDP. A party that should cover its face in shame for wasting all of 16 years in the life of our country, a party whose members should show penance by hunkering down has continued to assault the sensibilities of a decent nation. What a shame,” APC said.
